This post is for exactly what it says. Today was a wonderful day full of experiences and I wanted to put it into some sort of writing before bits of it slipped from my memory. This morning Aunt Mary, who is one of the most lovely eldery ladies you could ever meet, took Graham and I to a Koala sanctuary. Little did we know that this place was more than just a Koala sanctuary, it was more like a miniature zoo. Mary payed for our admission and insisted that we had to pet the Koalas when the keepers took them out of their artificial habitat. She also bought a few small bags of food to feed the kangaroos with. Not only did we have the privelege of petting Thomas (the koala), we also hand fed Kangaroos from inside their pen. The cutest one would have had to have been the little joey that was desperately trying to get as much food out of my hand as possible. Some of the other animals that we saw included a wombat, echidnas, dingoes (no, they didn't eat anyones baby), possums, and many other truly Aussie animals.
After we returned from the Koala Sanctuary Graham and I started to make the most of our one week public transport passes that we purchased. After finding it difficult to drive around Sydney we decided that it'd be more convenient, less frustrating, and ultimately more cost effective to use public transport. We took a bus down to Darling Harbour and spent the entire afternoon there. Darling Harbour has restaurants, shops, museums, and wildlife attractions that attract both tourists as well as Sydney residents. We managed to spend some of our money on gifts for people at home, who will remain unnamed. I'm sure we also managed to spend some money on ourselves.
Well, I suppose the purpose of this blog has been completed and I can now go back at some later date and be reminded of what it is I did while I was in Sydney. For now I must be off to bed. Have a wonderful New Year and I really do wish God's truest blessings on all of you. Cheers.
Dec 29, 2008
Dec 28, 2008
New South Wales, Always an Adventure
Well, well, well. Yesterday, Saturday the 27th, Graham and I completed another leg of our trip. We managed to make the 13 hour drive from Cobden, Victoria to Sydney, New South Wales. This drive was most definitely longer than our drive from Adelaide to Cobden and we saw more of a change in the weather as well. The rain came down for close to 45 minutes and the majority of it was heavy. Several cars were pulled off to the shoulder, but being the men that we are we decided to keep going, albeit at a slower pace. The rain eventually cleared up and we made a gas/mackers stop (mackers is abbreviation for McDonalds, Aussies love to abbrev). Sydney is a huge city, that is about all I'll say about that. Five million large to be exact. Once we got in to Sydney it took us a fair while to find the place where we're staying, but with help from several people we managed to make our way here eventually.
Our accomadations for the next 5 days is at a house owned by a great auntie once removed. You could just say a distant relative of mine I suppose. Her name is Mary and she's actually originally from Canada herself but has lived in Australia for the majority of her life. Our plans for the next few days go something like this. Tomorrow morning Mary is taking us down to a wildlife sanctuary which is one of her favorite places to go. Apparently we can actually pet the Koalas there and do all that touristy stuff. I suppose we'll have to take some pictures of that at the very least. The day after that Caitlin is flying back to Australia and landing in Sydney for about 30 hours. She'll stay with us for a night and we'll probably end up taking a ferry underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge and past the Sydney Opera House (both of which we saw last night on our way into the city. After we drop of Caitlin on the 31st we'll have to head down to the circular quay and probably set up camp for the New Years fireworks. As Aunt Mary said, everybody and their dog will want to see the fireworks and so we'll probably hang around the shops and the opera house all day to be able to get a decent view of the once in a lifetime experience. New Years day will probably be a sleeping in one and most likely just relaxing in a quiet suburb after a night of millions of people. The second of January is the day that we're planning to leave for Byron Bay. If all goes well we should be able to make it to Byron Bay for a late dinner and meet up with some of the people from the YWAM Adelaide base, which I suppose is a part of our Australian family by now.
Before I get going I will leave you with a bit of lame humour, nothing I made up myself but two different signs I saw in the last two days. The first was along the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney and it was for a town called Howlong. The sign literally read 'Howlong this Exit'. Like I already told somebody, if you say it as a question with an asian accent it's much more funny. The second sign was one I saw today on our way back from a walk along the wharf. Mary's house is near an old Psych Hospital and they have many different buildings with many different signs, some of them still being used as specialized wards for certain things. The sign read 'Schizophrenia Fellowship', no joke. Now before you go off and say how mean that is, just think about it. Does there have to be more than one person in the room? Meh, I'll let you wrestle with that deep and profound thought. I must get going but I would love to hear how Christmas's went and what the New Years plans are. Cheers for now.
Thanks again for all of your prayers and Christmas wishes. I have felt encouraged many times by family and friends and am truly blessed to have supporters. Your continued prayers in the next couple of weeks would also be appreciated as we are planning to be on the road for most of January. Thank you.
Our accomadations for the next 5 days is at a house owned by a great auntie once removed. You could just say a distant relative of mine I suppose. Her name is Mary and she's actually originally from Canada herself but has lived in Australia for the majority of her life. Our plans for the next few days go something like this. Tomorrow morning Mary is taking us down to a wildlife sanctuary which is one of her favorite places to go. Apparently we can actually pet the Koalas there and do all that touristy stuff. I suppose we'll have to take some pictures of that at the very least. The day after that Caitlin is flying back to Australia and landing in Sydney for about 30 hours. She'll stay with us for a night and we'll probably end up taking a ferry underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge and past the Sydney Opera House (both of which we saw last night on our way into the city. After we drop of Caitlin on the 31st we'll have to head down to the circular quay and probably set up camp for the New Years fireworks. As Aunt Mary said, everybody and their dog will want to see the fireworks and so we'll probably hang around the shops and the opera house all day to be able to get a decent view of the once in a lifetime experience. New Years day will probably be a sleeping in one and most likely just relaxing in a quiet suburb after a night of millions of people. The second of January is the day that we're planning to leave for Byron Bay. If all goes well we should be able to make it to Byron Bay for a late dinner and meet up with some of the people from the YWAM Adelaide base, which I suppose is a part of our Australian family by now.
Before I get going I will leave you with a bit of lame humour, nothing I made up myself but two different signs I saw in the last two days. The first was along the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney and it was for a town called Howlong. The sign literally read 'Howlong this Exit'. Like I already told somebody, if you say it as a question with an asian accent it's much more funny. The second sign was one I saw today on our way back from a walk along the wharf. Mary's house is near an old Psych Hospital and they have many different buildings with many different signs, some of them still being used as specialized wards for certain things. The sign read 'Schizophrenia Fellowship', no joke. Now before you go off and say how mean that is, just think about it. Does there have to be more than one person in the room? Meh, I'll let you wrestle with that deep and profound thought. I must get going but I would love to hear how Christmas's went and what the New Years plans are. Cheers for now.
Thanks again for all of your prayers and Christmas wishes. I have felt encouraged many times by family and friends and am truly blessed to have supporters. Your continued prayers in the next couple of weeks would also be appreciated as we are planning to be on the road for most of January. Thank you.
Dec 23, 2008
Not sure what to call it
This will probably be very brief because, well, there's not much to speak of. The last couple of weeks have been pretty much the same thing. Walking the dog, going for a daily run, reading, playing tennis (sort of), and doing some random other things along the way.
As Christmas fast approaches, and believe me it doesn't even feel like Christmas, there's a few family things coming up, but nothing like at home. I'll be honest, I will miss Christmas at home. Overeating with my relatives, playing hockey with friends, Christmas caroling. The two of us have only got a few days left here in Cobden and the rest of our days should be filled with Christmas events and before we know it we'll be watching the fireworks near Sydney harbour.
I will be on the road for the next month or so and really don't know how often I'll udate, but I'm sure if you ask I might be able to find some time to write a little bit. Plans are coming together and our car has proved reliable so far and we're looking forward to what's in store in the near future. Some other exciting news is that Graham was accepted for a Sports DTS which will be starting in Perth this coming July. It would be awesome if you could keep the both of us in your prayers, especially Graham as he prepares to do his DTS. I'd love to here some Christmas stories from at home, or anywhere with snow for that matter. I'll talk to you all later, but for now I must go.
Cheers
As Christmas fast approaches, and believe me it doesn't even feel like Christmas, there's a few family things coming up, but nothing like at home. I'll be honest, I will miss Christmas at home. Overeating with my relatives, playing hockey with friends, Christmas caroling. The two of us have only got a few days left here in Cobden and the rest of our days should be filled with Christmas events and before we know it we'll be watching the fireworks near Sydney harbour.
I will be on the road for the next month or so and really don't know how often I'll udate, but I'm sure if you ask I might be able to find some time to write a little bit. Plans are coming together and our car has proved reliable so far and we're looking forward to what's in store in the near future. Some other exciting news is that Graham was accepted for a Sports DTS which will be starting in Perth this coming July. It would be awesome if you could keep the both of us in your prayers, especially Graham as he prepares to do his DTS. I'd love to here some Christmas stories from at home, or anywhere with snow for that matter. I'll talk to you all later, but for now I must go.
Cheers
Dec 16, 2008
Change of Pace
Haven't blogged in about two weeks, since I left the YWAM base in Adelaide actually. Since than Graham and I have been in Cobden, Victoria which is about 2 and half hours south of Melbourne near a city called Warrnambool. We are living with a family whose daughter was an exchange student in year 10 at the SRSS.
The thing about Victoria is that it's known as the rainy place in the southern parts of Australia. So far, it hasn't disappointed. This last weekend was filled with rain and I'm not even sure how many centimetres we got over friday and saturday. Due to the rain we haven't been able to get out too much and because we're in a small town there isn't much to do indoors without driving a fair ways, and driving means spending money so I feel like we've been a bit lazy as of late. There have been a few nice days where Graham and I have played some tennis and I've been able to get out and run almost every day, other than that there hasn't been too much physical activity.
I would just like to take this one small paragraph to say that it's almost Christmas. Wow. If you're someone who has spent all of their Christmases in the snow than you know where I'm coming from. What a weird feeling, less than ten days until Christmas and no sign of snow, in fact it will only get hotter. I suppose there are a few positives to it though. Let's see, golfing on Christmas eve, playing tennis, getting sunburnt on Christmas day. Okay, so I might not actually do those things, but those aren't even possible at home. Merry Christmas.
Graham and I took this morning to make the short drive down the road to check out an Anglican Abbey and just to see what they're all about. There wasn't a whole lot going on but we did get a few neat pictures and just an idea of how they live. Needless to say Graham and I aren't exactly the tourist types. We don't go to the typical places and check out all the attractions, call us crazy but we're not those people.
So I've got several small and unimformative paragraphs and I don't really feel like writing too much more. It's been good to hear from some of you at home and hopefully I can connect with a few more of you in the future. God Bless and thanks for your prayers and Christmas wishes. Cheers.
The thing about Victoria is that it's known as the rainy place in the southern parts of Australia. So far, it hasn't disappointed. This last weekend was filled with rain and I'm not even sure how many centimetres we got over friday and saturday. Due to the rain we haven't been able to get out too much and because we're in a small town there isn't much to do indoors without driving a fair ways, and driving means spending money so I feel like we've been a bit lazy as of late. There have been a few nice days where Graham and I have played some tennis and I've been able to get out and run almost every day, other than that there hasn't been too much physical activity.
I would just like to take this one small paragraph to say that it's almost Christmas. Wow. If you're someone who has spent all of their Christmases in the snow than you know where I'm coming from. What a weird feeling, less than ten days until Christmas and no sign of snow, in fact it will only get hotter. I suppose there are a few positives to it though. Let's see, golfing on Christmas eve, playing tennis, getting sunburnt on Christmas day. Okay, so I might not actually do those things, but those aren't even possible at home. Merry Christmas.
Graham and I took this morning to make the short drive down the road to check out an Anglican Abbey and just to see what they're all about. There wasn't a whole lot going on but we did get a few neat pictures and just an idea of how they live. Needless to say Graham and I aren't exactly the tourist types. We don't go to the typical places and check out all the attractions, call us crazy but we're not those people.
So I've got several small and unimformative paragraphs and I don't really feel like writing too much more. It's been good to hear from some of you at home and hopefully I can connect with a few more of you in the future. God Bless and thanks for your prayers and Christmas wishes. Cheers.
Dec 1, 2008
My First Last Weekend in Adelaide
The title makes sense, because I'll be coming back to the base before I actually fly home. Now that we've got that cleared up, on to more exciting things. This past weekend was more than likely my last weekend at the YWAM base, at least until February that is. I'll do my best to divide this post into three sections, for various reasons. First, because weekends are divided into three days. Second, because good sermons are typically written in three parts. Third, because there are three meals in a day (just nod your head and agree that it all makes sense).
Welcome to the first part of my weekend, Friday night; breakfast if you will. Friday night Dan, Anne, Graham, Michelle, and myself went out to an event called The Lounge. This was actually the last Lounge event being held and we were lucky enough to experience some of it. The Lounge is basically a live music cafe where local artists, who typically play acoustic or piano type music, have the opportunity to play in front of a small audience. Each event usually has a specific social justice theme and Friday's was a small fund raiser and awareness night for Darfur, which is a province in Sudan. (shout out to Ian because he's been to Sudan). There were several local artists but really only two that I enjoyed, I think that was the general consensus among most of us. That about sums it up for Friday evening.
Next we have Saturday, the lunch of the weekend. Saturday morning we had the great privilege of, you guessed it, sleeping in. Saturday's are excellent for that reason and it seemed that we were still catching up on lack of sleep from Schoolies. The rest of the day was quite relaxed and I got the opportunity to catch up with a few different people from home. Saturday evening we had the great chance to go up to the Harrison's for Dinner. Chris is the kind of person who's status on Facebook let's everybody know what he's cooking for dinner, the motto being 'Life's too short to eat bad food'. I concur. Stuffed Jalapeños, Coopers Pale Ale, Steak, Potatoes, homemade Pumpkin pie, and of course Shiraz to compliment the Steak. Oh, and don't forget the Port to go along with Dessert. The Harrison's know how to eat and drink, this I know. As if that wasn't enough they're having us over Tuesday night for Curried Kangaroo, our first kangaroo experience; edible one at least. Saturday night was late, just because they're getting old doesn't mean they don't know how to party. At about quarter past one we called it quits and made our way back down the road into our waiting beds.
Sunday, the dinner of the weekend. Sunday was a heaps good day, despite going to bed late the night before and waking up before eight it was still a good day. Sam, Michelle, Sandra, Graham, and myself made the drive down to Victor Harbor area along with five surf boards, all crammed inside Sam's retro van. Our first stop was Middleton and the waves were looking alright. Sam thought there would only be a slight breeze but it turned out to be a very windy day. After a few hours in the water we made it back onto shore and found we had drifted over half a kilometer, courtesy of a brutal side wind. I must also say that I'm not a pro surfer but I'd definitely go again. Our second beach was Waitpinga Point, one that's a bit more enclosed because of some cliffs on one side. The waves at Waitpinga were breaking much more smoothly and the rest of the water wasn't nearly as choppy so it made for better surfing. My upper back was feeling pretty stuffed and so I enjoyed the sun and took a lovely sunday afternoon nap on the beach. How do you end a good day in the water? You go to church sunday evening. YWAM had been invited to participate in the service at the Church of Christ in Victor Harbor. The church was not nearly full and I would say YWAM was half of the congregation, but there was a feeling of community and honesty in the building. Thank goodness Pablo's message was interesting because I was just about to call it quits from a tiring weekend. After the service we went next door for some food and fellowship but those of us who had gone surfing were really only half present. That pretty much wrapped up my lovely, fun, and busy weekend.
I guess we'll treat Monday as dessert. This morning was spent preparing for a team of Brazilians that are coming this weekend. They will be here for the month of December and are doing dance, music, and drama ministry at different places. This afternoon I managed to get the registration renewed for the Mazda with absolutely no issues, Praise the Lord. Now we just need to get a battery tomorrow, than we're off on wednesday. That about wraps up it. Who's doing the dishes?
Welcome to the first part of my weekend, Friday night; breakfast if you will. Friday night Dan, Anne, Graham, Michelle, and myself went out to an event called The Lounge. This was actually the last Lounge event being held and we were lucky enough to experience some of it. The Lounge is basically a live music cafe where local artists, who typically play acoustic or piano type music, have the opportunity to play in front of a small audience. Each event usually has a specific social justice theme and Friday's was a small fund raiser and awareness night for Darfur, which is a province in Sudan. (shout out to Ian because he's been to Sudan). There were several local artists but really only two that I enjoyed, I think that was the general consensus among most of us. That about sums it up for Friday evening.
Next we have Saturday, the lunch of the weekend. Saturday morning we had the great privilege of, you guessed it, sleeping in. Saturday's are excellent for that reason and it seemed that we were still catching up on lack of sleep from Schoolies. The rest of the day was quite relaxed and I got the opportunity to catch up with a few different people from home. Saturday evening we had the great chance to go up to the Harrison's for Dinner. Chris is the kind of person who's status on Facebook let's everybody know what he's cooking for dinner, the motto being 'Life's too short to eat bad food'. I concur. Stuffed Jalapeños, Coopers Pale Ale, Steak, Potatoes, homemade Pumpkin pie, and of course Shiraz to compliment the Steak. Oh, and don't forget the Port to go along with Dessert. The Harrison's know how to eat and drink, this I know. As if that wasn't enough they're having us over Tuesday night for Curried Kangaroo, our first kangaroo experience; edible one at least. Saturday night was late, just because they're getting old doesn't mean they don't know how to party. At about quarter past one we called it quits and made our way back down the road into our waiting beds.
Sunday, the dinner of the weekend. Sunday was a heaps good day, despite going to bed late the night before and waking up before eight it was still a good day. Sam, Michelle, Sandra, Graham, and myself made the drive down to Victor Harbor area along with five surf boards, all crammed inside Sam's retro van. Our first stop was Middleton and the waves were looking alright. Sam thought there would only be a slight breeze but it turned out to be a very windy day. After a few hours in the water we made it back onto shore and found we had drifted over half a kilometer, courtesy of a brutal side wind. I must also say that I'm not a pro surfer but I'd definitely go again. Our second beach was Waitpinga Point, one that's a bit more enclosed because of some cliffs on one side. The waves at Waitpinga were breaking much more smoothly and the rest of the water wasn't nearly as choppy so it made for better surfing. My upper back was feeling pretty stuffed and so I enjoyed the sun and took a lovely sunday afternoon nap on the beach. How do you end a good day in the water? You go to church sunday evening. YWAM had been invited to participate in the service at the Church of Christ in Victor Harbor. The church was not nearly full and I would say YWAM was half of the congregation, but there was a feeling of community and honesty in the building. Thank goodness Pablo's message was interesting because I was just about to call it quits from a tiring weekend. After the service we went next door for some food and fellowship but those of us who had gone surfing were really only half present. That pretty much wrapped up my lovely, fun, and busy weekend.
I guess we'll treat Monday as dessert. This morning was spent preparing for a team of Brazilians that are coming this weekend. They will be here for the month of December and are doing dance, music, and drama ministry at different places. This afternoon I managed to get the registration renewed for the Mazda with absolutely no issues, Praise the Lord. Now we just need to get a battery tomorrow, than we're off on wednesday. That about wraps up it. Who's doing the dishes?
Nov 26, 2008
Schoolies 2008
I've procrastinated posting since after Schoolies, which was this past weekend, for reasons which will soon be known to you. For those of you wondering what the heck Schoolies is, continue reading. Schoolies is (see, told you I'd tell you what it is) a three day party put on by various local churches and an organization called Encounter Youth for the graduating class of 2008. Seeing as the month of November has been weekend to weekend at YWAM due to certain fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, and an onslaught of other things I figured I'd let you know how our most recent volunteer opportunity went.
Schoolies takes place at Victor Harbor which is located nearly two hours down the coast from our base. Victor Harbor is a town of roughly ten thousand people, most of them retirees. It is also a bit of a tourist town on most occasions, not so this past weekend. On the evening of Thursday, November 20, 2008 two vans left the YWAM SA base to make their way to Schoolies. I say evening generically because a small group of us left much later due to some trailer light difficulties (ask Ray Lind about that if you feel so inclined). Anyhow, we made it safely to Victor Harbor and got settled in our accommodation's fairly quickly. Our accommodations were a decent sized retreat-like center in a small caravan park. Yes, a caravan here is known as a trailer. Yes, we technically stayed in a trailer park; let me assure you that trailer parks here in Aus. are much different from the stereotype of North America. Friday was a slow sort of morning and by now we were all getting ready to adjust to working long nights and sleeping until noon. One minor thing, if you notice me refer to "Green Team" this is who we are. Green Team is a team of about 450 volunteers from various churches, camps, and christian organizations who help out in different ways at Schoolies. Anyhow, our first taste of being on the Green Team came on Friday afternoon when team YWAM made its way down to Victor for our traffic control training. Before we even made it across the square to get to the police trailer for our training we were stopped by a mother who had lost her two small children. Wow, who'd have thought we would start helping out before we were even required to. Two of the girls from our team managed to find the children after a quick search and Praise the Lord that they were alright. After a quick briefing on the dos and dont's of traffic directing we drove to the Lutheran church for dinner and made a pit stop at 'home' to change for the night's duties.
Really no reason for a new paragraph other than I felt like it. Most evenings had the same format using a three team rotation. Our teams were five or six people each and we rotated between road blocks, rubbish, and recovery/intercession. Apparently YWAM gets the roadblock and rubbish duties because nobody else wants them but we found that they were great opportunities to talk to the kids as well as spend time with one another. Anyhow, Friday evening. Friday night it rained, on and off, all night. A lot of the volunteers were cold and miserable because of the wind/rain combination but praise the Lord for rain anyway. After a double rubbish shift and sorting through rubbish and recycling we called it quits at about 4:30 am. The other nighs were not nearly as miserable and I think the stars even came out on sunday night. Many of the Schoolies were overwhelmingly accepting of the Green Team and most couldn't believe that we actually paid to volunteer for the weekend. We had many great conversations with so many different people and we trust in the Lord that He will continue to work in the lives that crossed our paths.
I could probably continue to tell stories about Schoolies but I will refrain from doing so. If you'd really like to hear something else or have questions about how it works than feel free to ask. The volunteering is definitely worth it but you have to be prepared to be lacking in the sleep department. Thank you again for all your prayers and I would love to know how I can be praying for you. Blessings and I'll talk to some of you soon.
P.S. We'll be leaving the YWAM base in roughly one week and would appreciate your prayers for safe transportation as well as a servant heart as we 'go out and make disciples'. Cheers.
Schoolies takes place at Victor Harbor which is located nearly two hours down the coast from our base. Victor Harbor is a town of roughly ten thousand people, most of them retirees. It is also a bit of a tourist town on most occasions, not so this past weekend. On the evening of Thursday, November 20, 2008 two vans left the YWAM SA base to make their way to Schoolies. I say evening generically because a small group of us left much later due to some trailer light difficulties (ask Ray Lind about that if you feel so inclined). Anyhow, we made it safely to Victor Harbor and got settled in our accommodation's fairly quickly. Our accommodations were a decent sized retreat-like center in a small caravan park. Yes, a caravan here is known as a trailer. Yes, we technically stayed in a trailer park; let me assure you that trailer parks here in Aus. are much different from the stereotype of North America. Friday was a slow sort of morning and by now we were all getting ready to adjust to working long nights and sleeping until noon. One minor thing, if you notice me refer to "Green Team" this is who we are. Green Team is a team of about 450 volunteers from various churches, camps, and christian organizations who help out in different ways at Schoolies. Anyhow, our first taste of being on the Green Team came on Friday afternoon when team YWAM made its way down to Victor for our traffic control training. Before we even made it across the square to get to the police trailer for our training we were stopped by a mother who had lost her two small children. Wow, who'd have thought we would start helping out before we were even required to. Two of the girls from our team managed to find the children after a quick search and Praise the Lord that they were alright. After a quick briefing on the dos and dont's of traffic directing we drove to the Lutheran church for dinner and made a pit stop at 'home' to change for the night's duties.
Really no reason for a new paragraph other than I felt like it. Most evenings had the same format using a three team rotation. Our teams were five or six people each and we rotated between road blocks, rubbish, and recovery/intercession. Apparently YWAM gets the roadblock and rubbish duties because nobody else wants them but we found that they were great opportunities to talk to the kids as well as spend time with one another. Anyhow, Friday evening. Friday night it rained, on and off, all night. A lot of the volunteers were cold and miserable because of the wind/rain combination but praise the Lord for rain anyway. After a double rubbish shift and sorting through rubbish and recycling we called it quits at about 4:30 am. The other nighs were not nearly as miserable and I think the stars even came out on sunday night. Many of the Schoolies were overwhelmingly accepting of the Green Team and most couldn't believe that we actually paid to volunteer for the weekend. We had many great conversations with so many different people and we trust in the Lord that He will continue to work in the lives that crossed our paths.
I could probably continue to tell stories about Schoolies but I will refrain from doing so. If you'd really like to hear something else or have questions about how it works than feel free to ask. The volunteering is definitely worth it but you have to be prepared to be lacking in the sleep department. Thank you again for all your prayers and I would love to know how I can be praying for you. Blessings and I'll talk to some of you soon.
P.S. We'll be leaving the YWAM base in roughly one week and would appreciate your prayers for safe transportation as well as a servant heart as we 'go out and make disciples'. Cheers.
Nov 19, 2008
Leap of Faith
What are the chances you're reading this again? Pretty good if you just read that I guess. What to talk about? Let's see, oh right, here it is.
This past Saturday we had a fund raising banquet take place at the base and so our weekend moved to Sunday/Monday (we raised $2500, praise the Lord). Sunday was kind of lazy, as Sunday's should be. Sunday evening we went down into the city to pick up some pizza, incidentally from Claude's Pizza, one of the brothers who happened to own the orchard that we picked cherries at. Laura knows him and his family well and gives riding lessons to a few of his children. Let's just say Claude is an extremely nice person, he ended up giving us an entire meal along with drinks and some delicious gelati. That would more or less sum up Sunday, now on to Monday. Mondays are usually sorta bum days, as I'm sure most of you can attest to. This past Monday was by no means an ordinary Monday, ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was lot's of fun. So much fun I think I'll start a new paragraph for it.
Monday afternoon we left the base and Laura, Caitlin, Graham, Leah, Darby (Matt's Great Dane), and myself all packed into a YWAM van and headed down into the city. After picking up Matt we then proceeded to find his oh so secret cliff jumping location. In fact, the location is so secret he couldn't even remember where it was. His GPS stayed at home and the last time he had been there was ten years ago. I have to say, I had my doubts we would find it at all. After just under an extra hour of driving around the hills of Onkaparinga we finally stumbled upon a small entrance to the park. We hiked down hill and through the bush for about 15 minutes. Caitlin and I kept mumbling to each other about how there probably wasn't any water left because of the drought, but nonetheless we kept on walking. I guess I should give some credit to Matt because we did eventually find it. The location is actually this random cliff right next to a small pond that looks like it is nowhere deep enough to even swim in. Ok, enough about our boring arrival, on to the cliff jumping. We first checked the depth of the water (you can breathe now mother) and than climbed up to the lowest point to test it out. I was really surprised that nobody ever came close to the bottom of the pond, it was definitely much deeper than it looked. The lower jump was about 15 feet off the water, and looked every bit as intimidating the first time we looked over the edge. After jumping off that one twice I decided to make my way up to the higher one. We only did two different jumps because we had our doubts about the ones above it. So the highest jump we ended up doing was about 25 feet, give or take a few. I guess it probably doesn't sound that high, and if we went again I'd try and go higher, but it was worth the drive.
The other leap of faith I meant to talk about is mine and Graham's potential transportation for the next three months. I'll be talking to Pablo about it in the next few days but organizing it should be no problem. The base has an old car that was previously used by some staffers and is no longer registered. The beauty about South Australia is that you don't have to have a car safetied before you register it. More about why this car is such a leap of faith though. It's 1984 Mazda 323 with over 350 000 km's on it. It currently has no working battery but does start when it's boosted. The kicker about this car is that the brakes do not work at the moment, praise the Lord for hand brakes. The fix should be simple though (again, mom, quit worrying). Our test run with this car will be the shortest of our potential road trip, an 8 hour drive from Adelaide to Cobden. I know there will be people at the base praying for our car :) but we're going in faith that things will work out alright.
As far as prayer requests go I'm feeling a little under the weather today. The cold has been going through the base and I woke up fairly stuffed with a huge headache this morning. The main reason I'd like it to go away is because schoolies is coming on this weekend. Schoolies is a huge event that we volunteer at and we'll be doing long days and short nights. Thanks so much for your prayers and I'd love to hear from some of you. Blessings and Prayers.
This past Saturday we had a fund raising banquet take place at the base and so our weekend moved to Sunday/Monday (we raised $2500, praise the Lord). Sunday was kind of lazy, as Sunday's should be. Sunday evening we went down into the city to pick up some pizza, incidentally from Claude's Pizza, one of the brothers who happened to own the orchard that we picked cherries at. Laura knows him and his family well and gives riding lessons to a few of his children. Let's just say Claude is an extremely nice person, he ended up giving us an entire meal along with drinks and some delicious gelati. That would more or less sum up Sunday, now on to Monday. Mondays are usually sorta bum days, as I'm sure most of you can attest to. This past Monday was by no means an ordinary Monday, ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was lot's of fun. So much fun I think I'll start a new paragraph for it.
Monday afternoon we left the base and Laura, Caitlin, Graham, Leah, Darby (Matt's Great Dane), and myself all packed into a YWAM van and headed down into the city. After picking up Matt we then proceeded to find his oh so secret cliff jumping location. In fact, the location is so secret he couldn't even remember where it was. His GPS stayed at home and the last time he had been there was ten years ago. I have to say, I had my doubts we would find it at all. After just under an extra hour of driving around the hills of Onkaparinga we finally stumbled upon a small entrance to the park. We hiked down hill and through the bush for about 15 minutes. Caitlin and I kept mumbling to each other about how there probably wasn't any water left because of the drought, but nonetheless we kept on walking. I guess I should give some credit to Matt because we did eventually find it. The location is actually this random cliff right next to a small pond that looks like it is nowhere deep enough to even swim in. Ok, enough about our boring arrival, on to the cliff jumping. We first checked the depth of the water (you can breathe now mother) and than climbed up to the lowest point to test it out. I was really surprised that nobody ever came close to the bottom of the pond, it was definitely much deeper than it looked. The lower jump was about 15 feet off the water, and looked every bit as intimidating the first time we looked over the edge. After jumping off that one twice I decided to make my way up to the higher one. We only did two different jumps because we had our doubts about the ones above it. So the highest jump we ended up doing was about 25 feet, give or take a few. I guess it probably doesn't sound that high, and if we went again I'd try and go higher, but it was worth the drive.
The other leap of faith I meant to talk about is mine and Graham's potential transportation for the next three months. I'll be talking to Pablo about it in the next few days but organizing it should be no problem. The base has an old car that was previously used by some staffers and is no longer registered. The beauty about South Australia is that you don't have to have a car safetied before you register it. More about why this car is such a leap of faith though. It's 1984 Mazda 323 with over 350 000 km's on it. It currently has no working battery but does start when it's boosted. The kicker about this car is that the brakes do not work at the moment, praise the Lord for hand brakes. The fix should be simple though (again, mom, quit worrying). Our test run with this car will be the shortest of our potential road trip, an 8 hour drive from Adelaide to Cobden. I know there will be people at the base praying for our car :) but we're going in faith that things will work out alright.
As far as prayer requests go I'm feeling a little under the weather today. The cold has been going through the base and I woke up fairly stuffed with a huge headache this morning. The main reason I'd like it to go away is because schoolies is coming on this weekend. Schoolies is a huge event that we volunteer at and we'll be doing long days and short nights. Thanks so much for your prayers and I'd love to hear from some of you. Blessings and Prayers.
Nov 14, 2008
Rockin' in the Orchard
Well, well, well... what do we have here? You are reading my blog, therefore you are either bored or genuinely interested in what I've been up to. I'll leave it up to you.
In the event that you're reading this because you are actually genuinely interested in what I have been up to I suppose I should at least write something. The last two days I've had the opportunity, along with a few other YWAMers, to pick cherries at an orchard down the road for a bit of extra cash. Ordinarily it'd be alright money but we're rookies when it comes to cherry picking. Five dollars a bucket at an average of four buckets an hour sounds pretty good, it's tricky to do four buckets in hour though. Much harder than it sounds. So we ended up making probably just over ten dollars an hour, which sounds alright to most Canadians, but in Australia that's about as low as it gets. I guess I do have the right to now say "I've picked cherries before".
One of the other things that's kept us busy this week at the base is preparation for a fund raising dinner this Saturday evening. The dinner is being put on for about 60 guests and we are hoping to raise funds to support the YWAM base as well as it's various ministries. Prep for the dinner includes decorations, cooking (which apparently involves me, somehow), mowing lawn and prettying up the gardens, and cleaning everything else more than usual. It seems like a big deal for a small amount of people, but we're trusting that God will move in marvelous ways to not only bring in support money for YWAM but to bring Youth With A Mission, and more so God, into the city of Adelaide.
So it's now Friday night and I feel sort of lame for sitting here and blogging instead of doing something exciting, but I was up early to cherry pick and I'll probably end up going to bed early as well. Cheers and blessings and I'll talk to some of you at an undisclosed and later date.
In the event that you're reading this because you are actually genuinely interested in what I have been up to I suppose I should at least write something. The last two days I've had the opportunity, along with a few other YWAMers, to pick cherries at an orchard down the road for a bit of extra cash. Ordinarily it'd be alright money but we're rookies when it comes to cherry picking. Five dollars a bucket at an average of four buckets an hour sounds pretty good, it's tricky to do four buckets in hour though. Much harder than it sounds. So we ended up making probably just over ten dollars an hour, which sounds alright to most Canadians, but in Australia that's about as low as it gets. I guess I do have the right to now say "I've picked cherries before".
One of the other things that's kept us busy this week at the base is preparation for a fund raising dinner this Saturday evening. The dinner is being put on for about 60 guests and we are hoping to raise funds to support the YWAM base as well as it's various ministries. Prep for the dinner includes decorations, cooking (which apparently involves me, somehow), mowing lawn and prettying up the gardens, and cleaning everything else more than usual. It seems like a big deal for a small amount of people, but we're trusting that God will move in marvelous ways to not only bring in support money for YWAM but to bring Youth With A Mission, and more so God, into the city of Adelaide.
So it's now Friday night and I feel sort of lame for sitting here and blogging instead of doing something exciting, but I was up early to cherry pick and I'll probably end up going to bed early as well. Cheers and blessings and I'll talk to some of you at an undisclosed and later date.
Nov 8, 2008
Odd Week
Yep, another week is gone. Finished. Done. It seems that's how a lot of the weeks here have felt. Time has seemingly sped up and in a few more short weeks we'll be done at YWAM SA. Let's not dwell on the sadness of it all though.
This week was a bit of a funny one, not actually funny as in worth laughing about but funny as in odd. A majority of the people on base were absent this past week as they were attending the National Leaders Meeting (NLM) in Melbourne. So not everybody that went is a leader per say, but I'm sure they all learned heaps of stuff and formed tighter relationships with one another as well as with Jesus. Although most of the people who are normally on base were gone this week I would dare say that it was a combination of things that made the week a bit odd. With the base being so quiet there wasn't the same motivation to be doing work at all times; I admit it, not nearly as much work got done this week compared to weeks gone by. Although we did cut a wall and put in a door, paint the door/frame, burn an old tree stump, herd some sheep, gash my toe (which is healing up surprisingly nicely), mow part of the lawn, and paint some signs. Now, to the fun stuff.
When everybody left for NLM Laura and I promised ourselves that we'd do as many fun things as we could while they were gone. We may have broken that promise to some extent, but we did keep part of it. On Wednesday evening Laura, myself, and Leah had the privilege of going to play bingo with Paulette. Of course, what is bingo without a little costume action. When I say action my friends, I mean action. Let's just say we got the twice and even three times over from several different people. We didn't win any money but it was definitely worth it just to be out for the evening and enjoy the crazy environment of some seniors hall bingo. Bingo was probably the highlight outing for the week but little things like bread run and home surgery on my toe definitely made it enjoyable as well. We got rain this week! So that's not a big deal to any of you at home, in fact you're probably getting rain/snow right now. To South Australia that is a fairly big deal to be getting rain. Again 5 millimeters probably sounds like nothing for one night but it's something here. I was told this morning that South Australia has had below average rainfall every month for the last 37 months, that's over three years! It's not even summer yet and the grass is almost entirely brown. I've found myself continually praying for rain, both physically and spiritually over the last month or so. Anyhow, that's about all I have to say about that. If you've got any questions, comments, or even a loving word I'd love to hear from you. I tried (5 times) to post some pictures this week but our internet is just too slow, so you'll have to wait until December.
God Bless all of you and I pray He will continue to strengthen you in the fruits of His spirit as you daily live out His will for your life. Blessings and Prayers.
This week was a bit of a funny one, not actually funny as in worth laughing about but funny as in odd. A majority of the people on base were absent this past week as they were attending the National Leaders Meeting (NLM) in Melbourne. So not everybody that went is a leader per say, but I'm sure they all learned heaps of stuff and formed tighter relationships with one another as well as with Jesus. Although most of the people who are normally on base were gone this week I would dare say that it was a combination of things that made the week a bit odd. With the base being so quiet there wasn't the same motivation to be doing work at all times; I admit it, not nearly as much work got done this week compared to weeks gone by. Although we did cut a wall and put in a door, paint the door/frame, burn an old tree stump, herd some sheep, gash my toe (which is healing up surprisingly nicely), mow part of the lawn, and paint some signs. Now, to the fun stuff.
When everybody left for NLM Laura and I promised ourselves that we'd do as many fun things as we could while they were gone. We may have broken that promise to some extent, but we did keep part of it. On Wednesday evening Laura, myself, and Leah had the privilege of going to play bingo with Paulette. Of course, what is bingo without a little costume action. When I say action my friends, I mean action. Let's just say we got the twice and even three times over from several different people. We didn't win any money but it was definitely worth it just to be out for the evening and enjoy the crazy environment of some seniors hall bingo. Bingo was probably the highlight outing for the week but little things like bread run and home surgery on my toe definitely made it enjoyable as well. We got rain this week! So that's not a big deal to any of you at home, in fact you're probably getting rain/snow right now. To South Australia that is a fairly big deal to be getting rain. Again 5 millimeters probably sounds like nothing for one night but it's something here. I was told this morning that South Australia has had below average rainfall every month for the last 37 months, that's over three years! It's not even summer yet and the grass is almost entirely brown. I've found myself continually praying for rain, both physically and spiritually over the last month or so. Anyhow, that's about all I have to say about that. If you've got any questions, comments, or even a loving word I'd love to hear from you. I tried (5 times) to post some pictures this week but our internet is just too slow, so you'll have to wait until December.
God Bless all of you and I pray He will continue to strengthen you in the fruits of His spirit as you daily live out His will for your life. Blessings and Prayers.
Nov 3, 2008
High Flying and Four Wheel Driving
What a Saturday, I must say it was quite something. This past Saturday we had the opportunity to drive down to Kapunda in the Barossa Valley to have a day full of food, fellowship, and fun. Saturday, which was originally supposed to be 19 degrees and cloudy, turned out to be a beautiful day for flying. We were hosted by the Jaeschke family who's daughter, Hannah, has been involved with YWAM in the past. Hannah's boyfriend happens to have his pilot's license as well as his aerobatics license, and it just so happened that he had an available airplane kickin' around. I'll cut to the chase, it was Awesome!! Experiencing crazy G forces, or lack there of, doing nose dives, steep climbs, and flying right over the heads of the other enthusiastic YWAMers was really neat. The Jaeschke's were kind enough to have us over for a bbq at lunch and opened up their house to us. Hannah's parents shared some neat stories with us about raising orphaned roo's; I had almost started to doubt the existence of kangaroos since I haven't even seen one since being here. This now brings me to the second part of the day.
Just prior to leaving Kapunda to head back into Adelaide Mr. Jaeschke asked us if we were in a hurry to get back. We all figured we weren't in too much of a hurry and so he suggested we take the scenic back roads instead of the main highway. What a suggestion. The back roads weren't in real bad condition but they didn't look like they got a lot of use either. We were in Matt's four wheel drive Pajero with six people, and we were on a mission. The plan was mainly to have fun exploring back country roads at top speeds, but we encountered so much more. After driving up a few country roads, down a small hill with a 60 degree angle, and through some fairly big pot holes we came across our first bit of wildlife. Matt noticed the lizard just in time and we skidded to a halt, they're pretty serious about preserving wildlife out here actually. I can't remember the exact name of the lizard but it's a fairly stubby lizard that's a cousin of the blue-tongued lizard. It has incredibly sharp teeth but seemed quite docile at the time. We pointed him on his way and not five minutes later we came across his friend, the blue-tongued lizard. These guys really have never heard of a cross-walk. Anyhow, we narrowly missed this guy and had to slam it in to reverse before he could get back off the road. Matt and his younger brother Sabastian hopped out and grabbed and we all had a close up look. The blue-tongued lizard is even more dangerous than his cousin and has a surprisingly strong grip with his tail. Alright, enough is enough, I'd seen lizards before. Where are all the kangaroos?
Probably the most fun part of our four wheel drive adventure happened when we came across and old set of railway tracks that ran perpendicular to the back road we were driving down. We decided to drive down the tracks to see where we'd end up. Not even a few minutes off the road we saw two roo's bounding through the tall grass between the tracks and the nearest field. So, as you do, we parted ways with the tracks and took off through the grass and around the trees to try and catch the roo's. Let me tell you something about kangaroos, they can be darn sneaky if they try. One second we saw them and the next second they were over the fence and lost in the vastness of the field; I guess you can't say we didn't try. Well, that would about sum up the exciting part of Saturday. Sunday we went wine tasting right next door and took it easy for most of the day, which was good, because it was Sunday. I reckon that's about all I have to say, so goodbye. If you haven't stopped reading at this point you probably should, go, do something that's a lot more fun. Get outside, ride a bike, rake some leaves. Blessings.
Just prior to leaving Kapunda to head back into Adelaide Mr. Jaeschke asked us if we were in a hurry to get back. We all figured we weren't in too much of a hurry and so he suggested we take the scenic back roads instead of the main highway. What a suggestion. The back roads weren't in real bad condition but they didn't look like they got a lot of use either. We were in Matt's four wheel drive Pajero with six people, and we were on a mission. The plan was mainly to have fun exploring back country roads at top speeds, but we encountered so much more. After driving up a few country roads, down a small hill with a 60 degree angle, and through some fairly big pot holes we came across our first bit of wildlife. Matt noticed the lizard just in time and we skidded to a halt, they're pretty serious about preserving wildlife out here actually. I can't remember the exact name of the lizard but it's a fairly stubby lizard that's a cousin of the blue-tongued lizard. It has incredibly sharp teeth but seemed quite docile at the time. We pointed him on his way and not five minutes later we came across his friend, the blue-tongued lizard. These guys really have never heard of a cross-walk. Anyhow, we narrowly missed this guy and had to slam it in to reverse before he could get back off the road. Matt and his younger brother Sabastian hopped out and grabbed and we all had a close up look. The blue-tongued lizard is even more dangerous than his cousin and has a surprisingly strong grip with his tail. Alright, enough is enough, I'd seen lizards before. Where are all the kangaroos?
Probably the most fun part of our four wheel drive adventure happened when we came across and old set of railway tracks that ran perpendicular to the back road we were driving down. We decided to drive down the tracks to see where we'd end up. Not even a few minutes off the road we saw two roo's bounding through the tall grass between the tracks and the nearest field. So, as you do, we parted ways with the tracks and took off through the grass and around the trees to try and catch the roo's. Let me tell you something about kangaroos, they can be darn sneaky if they try. One second we saw them and the next second they were over the fence and lost in the vastness of the field; I guess you can't say we didn't try. Well, that would about sum up the exciting part of Saturday. Sunday we went wine tasting right next door and took it easy for most of the day, which was good, because it was Sunday. I reckon that's about all I have to say, so goodbye. If you haven't stopped reading at this point you probably should, go, do something that's a lot more fun. Get outside, ride a bike, rake some leaves. Blessings.
Oct 31, 2008
insert title here
Sometimes I tell myself 'Zac, you should blog more often", but than I realize that I'm going to be gone for a total of six months. I reckon that would be a whole lot of blogging about a whole lot of nothing.
This past week has been busy at times and seemingly quite slow at other times. For myself this week has been different because we've had a ministry group called VMTC (Victorious Ministry Through Christ) with us this week. It sounds funny to have a group ministering to another group of believers and essentially missionaries, but it was an awesome week. My responsibilities for the week were mainly kitchen and so that's where I spent a lot of my time. The VMTC group had roughly 25 people so we were cooking for sixty people for lunch and dinner every day. I actually didn't mind being in the kitchen for most of the week but enjoyed having a couple of meals off to just sit around and get some reading done. Wednesday evening was the evening that both Graham and I were being ministered to. The ministry time is a four hour slot in which you're in a room with three other people. One person is interceding for the whole time, one is ministering, and the other is being trained in the ministering. The time of ministry is basically a time where people who are normally pouring out to other people and doing ministry of their own have the opportunity to unload. Burdens from the past that you are still carrying, things from the present that you are struggling with, and whatever else the Lord places on your heart. The ministry is what you make of it. If you aren't completely open with God than you can't expect Him to bring healing into those parts of your life that you aren't willing to share with Him. I won't go into detail about my time of ministry, but God is good and He is faithful. It's encouraging to know that God speaks to His children through brothers and sisters in Christ. Praise the Lord!
Anyhow, moving on to other things. So the day after my last post about hiking to Morialta we did it again, this time in the dark :). I'll admit that I'm slightly afraid of the dark at times, but it was a good time and laughs all around. I could talk about SA being the murder capital of Australia, or how the biggest serial killer is actually from around Adelaide, but I won't. Wait, I just did. Let's just say that stories like that made the walk even more adventurous, not to mention Caitlin falling on her butt every five minutes.
Well, that's about it for today's news. Apparently I'm on the cooking roster for lunch and so I need to see how many people are going to be here and what I'm cooking for them. God bless and I'll talk to some of you soon I suppose. Cheers.
This past week has been busy at times and seemingly quite slow at other times. For myself this week has been different because we've had a ministry group called VMTC (Victorious Ministry Through Christ) with us this week. It sounds funny to have a group ministering to another group of believers and essentially missionaries, but it was an awesome week. My responsibilities for the week were mainly kitchen and so that's where I spent a lot of my time. The VMTC group had roughly 25 people so we were cooking for sixty people for lunch and dinner every day. I actually didn't mind being in the kitchen for most of the week but enjoyed having a couple of meals off to just sit around and get some reading done. Wednesday evening was the evening that both Graham and I were being ministered to. The ministry time is a four hour slot in which you're in a room with three other people. One person is interceding for the whole time, one is ministering, and the other is being trained in the ministering. The time of ministry is basically a time where people who are normally pouring out to other people and doing ministry of their own have the opportunity to unload. Burdens from the past that you are still carrying, things from the present that you are struggling with, and whatever else the Lord places on your heart. The ministry is what you make of it. If you aren't completely open with God than you can't expect Him to bring healing into those parts of your life that you aren't willing to share with Him. I won't go into detail about my time of ministry, but God is good and He is faithful. It's encouraging to know that God speaks to His children through brothers and sisters in Christ. Praise the Lord!
Anyhow, moving on to other things. So the day after my last post about hiking to Morialta we did it again, this time in the dark :). I'll admit that I'm slightly afraid of the dark at times, but it was a good time and laughs all around. I could talk about SA being the murder capital of Australia, or how the biggest serial killer is actually from around Adelaide, but I won't. Wait, I just did. Let's just say that stories like that made the walk even more adventurous, not to mention Caitlin falling on her butt every five minutes.
Well, that's about it for today's news. Apparently I'm on the cooking roster for lunch and so I need to see how many people are going to be here and what I'm cooking for them. God bless and I'll talk to some of you soon I suppose. Cheers.
Oct 26, 2008
Morialta
G'day. I've just gotten a bit lazy again when it comes to blogging; I think about it but I don't get around to doing it because I figure it's not too important.
This last week wasn't too busy here at the base but Graham and I did manage to finish up completely at Paulette's house. That means that painting, floors, clean-up etc. is all done!! Yay for us. This Saturday afternoon we finally took the walk next door to Morialta National Park. That's right, we have been living next door to a national park and haven't even seen it. The main attraction of the park is, I believe, supposed to be the waterfalls that run through it. We cut through the neighbors vineyard and made our way to one of the parks paths to find the first set of falls. From where the park is in relation to the base we're technically coming in from the back so the first set of falls that we came to is actually known as Third Falls. One thing you also have to understand is that Australia has been in a drought for the last decade or so and these falls are nothing, I'm sure, like they once were. We weren't too satisfied by the trickle of Third falls and so we made our way down to Second Falls. Again, not satisfied by simply watching from the designated spots we hopped the rail and climbed down to the edge of the falls as far as we could go. The scenery is absolutely stunning and would be even more so if the falls were running at full capacity. After coming so far we figured we may as well take the walk all the way down to First Falls. We didn't want to come back up the hill after First Falls so we just stayed at the top. First Falls has by far the highest drop and Graham, Laura, and I decided to hop the rail again and climb down to the edge to get some better photos. As well as beautiful scenery it was also a fairly warm day, 32 degrees or something like that, so we also took a cold shower underneath what was left of the falls. Not even two meters next to us was a 40 meter drop into what was probably once a fairly impressive pool of water. Despite the lack of water Morialta was still a pretty neat experience and a little bit of exercise at the very least.
As far as today and this week goes..... Sunday is typically the relaxing day for me here. A few people were heading to church shortly after I woke up but I wouldn't have been ready on time, so I made breakfast and did some reading instead. Today some people involved in ministry are arriving from various places in Australia and Tasmania (the Saskatchewan of down under) to minister to the full-time staff here at the base. With the staff here constantly ministering to other people it will be a good chance for them to learn, be heard, and talk instead of listen. Because of the extra 20 or so people our responsibilities this week are mainly limited to the kitchen. This means that I am more or less in charge because apparently I'm the most capable one we've got. We'll see what other sort of work duties get done this week but I can only assume that most of the week will be spent in the kitchen.
A quick prayer request, although not a huge deal right now, is the things of the future. I suppose both the near and distant future. For our time spent working and traveling because we'll be living with a family of non-believers and most likely come into contact with a lot of non-believing people. As well as for the distant future with whatever it might hold for me after Australia. I'm not dwelling on the distant future too much but it's still inevitable, so I'm doing my best to seek and trust the Lord on that one. Thanks again for all your prayers and words of encouragement. Hugs to all of you, wherever you might be. Blessings.
Praise the Lord!
This last week wasn't too busy here at the base but Graham and I did manage to finish up completely at Paulette's house. That means that painting, floors, clean-up etc. is all done!! Yay for us. This Saturday afternoon we finally took the walk next door to Morialta National Park. That's right, we have been living next door to a national park and haven't even seen it. The main attraction of the park is, I believe, supposed to be the waterfalls that run through it. We cut through the neighbors vineyard and made our way to one of the parks paths to find the first set of falls. From where the park is in relation to the base we're technically coming in from the back so the first set of falls that we came to is actually known as Third Falls. One thing you also have to understand is that Australia has been in a drought for the last decade or so and these falls are nothing, I'm sure, like they once were. We weren't too satisfied by the trickle of Third falls and so we made our way down to Second Falls. Again, not satisfied by simply watching from the designated spots we hopped the rail and climbed down to the edge of the falls as far as we could go. The scenery is absolutely stunning and would be even more so if the falls were running at full capacity. After coming so far we figured we may as well take the walk all the way down to First Falls. We didn't want to come back up the hill after First Falls so we just stayed at the top. First Falls has by far the highest drop and Graham, Laura, and I decided to hop the rail again and climb down to the edge to get some better photos. As well as beautiful scenery it was also a fairly warm day, 32 degrees or something like that, so we also took a cold shower underneath what was left of the falls. Not even two meters next to us was a 40 meter drop into what was probably once a fairly impressive pool of water. Despite the lack of water Morialta was still a pretty neat experience and a little bit of exercise at the very least.
As far as today and this week goes..... Sunday is typically the relaxing day for me here. A few people were heading to church shortly after I woke up but I wouldn't have been ready on time, so I made breakfast and did some reading instead. Today some people involved in ministry are arriving from various places in Australia and Tasmania (the Saskatchewan of down under) to minister to the full-time staff here at the base. With the staff here constantly ministering to other people it will be a good chance for them to learn, be heard, and talk instead of listen. Because of the extra 20 or so people our responsibilities this week are mainly limited to the kitchen. This means that I am more or less in charge because apparently I'm the most capable one we've got. We'll see what other sort of work duties get done this week but I can only assume that most of the week will be spent in the kitchen.
A quick prayer request, although not a huge deal right now, is the things of the future. I suppose both the near and distant future. For our time spent working and traveling because we'll be living with a family of non-believers and most likely come into contact with a lot of non-believing people. As well as for the distant future with whatever it might hold for me after Australia. I'm not dwelling on the distant future too much but it's still inevitable, so I'm doing my best to seek and trust the Lord on that one. Thanks again for all your prayers and words of encouragement. Hugs to all of you, wherever you might be. Blessings.
Praise the Lord!
Oct 20, 2008
I AM a Blonde Surfer
That's right, me, a blonde surfer. This last saturday was the first time we took the opportunity to go surfing. Actually Graham and I weren't even planning to leave the base that day, but as fate would have it we headed out to South Port with Matt Newman and the surf boards.
The drive to south port is over an hour away and we didn't have a whole lot of time because Fauger's birthday party started at 5. We only ended up being in the water for an hour and a half but it was heaps of fun. Graham took a little while to get into his wet suit but once he was suited up we bay watched it into the water and took the waves head on. Paddling out isn't hard and waiting for the waves isn't a big challenge either, but finding the waves and predicting when they'll break is another story. The waves were breaking in sets of 3 or 4 and quite randomly. So where as some of them were big enough to slam you others didn't even have enough power to get up on. Graham and I each caught about half a wave, yes half, because we didn't really get high enough to actually ride them. Apparently we both did quite well for our first time and I'm thinking we'll probably go again before we leave the YWAM base. After all was said and done I had experienced all there is to experience in surfing (ok, so I didn't get slammed into the reef, but other than that I did it all). I got wax rash on my stomach (due to the lack of a wetsuit), cut my leg on the fin, and got slammed by a larger than expected wave. All in a days work. After a long and tired ride home we rinsed off the salt water and got ready for Fauger's party.
Let the party begin. Fauger is our head of maintenance here on the base and one of the Brazilians that lives here. This last saturday was his 30th birthday. The party consisted of some beach volleyball, both sweet and savory cakes, some oh so delicious beef and great fellowship. Not a whole lot else to speak of but it was good times.
On Sunday morning Graham and I woke up at 7:30 to phone Lyndol (shout out to Lyndol). After that we headed up to the guest house and finished off painting in one room just to get it done with. The rest of the day we played some more beach volleyball and just hung out in general. Shish Kabobs for dinner were delectable. Well, that about sums up my activities for the last few days; sometimes I just feel like I should blog even when I don't have a lot to say. So, in conclusion I reckon we can all learn a few things from this post...... nah, I'm just kiddin', but seriously, learn. Cheers.
The drive to south port is over an hour away and we didn't have a whole lot of time because Fauger's birthday party started at 5. We only ended up being in the water for an hour and a half but it was heaps of fun. Graham took a little while to get into his wet suit but once he was suited up we bay watched it into the water and took the waves head on. Paddling out isn't hard and waiting for the waves isn't a big challenge either, but finding the waves and predicting when they'll break is another story. The waves were breaking in sets of 3 or 4 and quite randomly. So where as some of them were big enough to slam you others didn't even have enough power to get up on. Graham and I each caught about half a wave, yes half, because we didn't really get high enough to actually ride them. Apparently we both did quite well for our first time and I'm thinking we'll probably go again before we leave the YWAM base. After all was said and done I had experienced all there is to experience in surfing (ok, so I didn't get slammed into the reef, but other than that I did it all). I got wax rash on my stomach (due to the lack of a wetsuit), cut my leg on the fin, and got slammed by a larger than expected wave. All in a days work. After a long and tired ride home we rinsed off the salt water and got ready for Fauger's party.
Let the party begin. Fauger is our head of maintenance here on the base and one of the Brazilians that lives here. This last saturday was his 30th birthday. The party consisted of some beach volleyball, both sweet and savory cakes, some oh so delicious beef and great fellowship. Not a whole lot else to speak of but it was good times.
On Sunday morning Graham and I woke up at 7:30 to phone Lyndol (shout out to Lyndol). After that we headed up to the guest house and finished off painting in one room just to get it done with. The rest of the day we played some more beach volleyball and just hung out in general. Shish Kabobs for dinner were delectable. Well, that about sums up my activities for the last few days; sometimes I just feel like I should blog even when I don't have a lot to say. So, in conclusion I reckon we can all learn a few things from this post...... nah, I'm just kiddin', but seriously, learn. Cheers.
Oct 15, 2008
Beachin' Marksenfest
It's been another week or so since I've last written, October is flying by. I have most definitely been keeping busy with all sorts of things, a lot of them being the usual but some of them being fairly out of the ordinary. I guess I'll start with this last weekend, the beach. Our actual plan for this last weekend was to drive out to Mclarenville to do some wine tasting. Mclarenville is just over an hour away from Norton Summit and is a pretty big destination for those hoping to taste some lovely wine. Graham, Matt Macgregor, and I were getting ready to go when our DD canceled on us. You might say 'hey, shouldn't you be spitting the wine anyway?' To that, I would say 'NO'. Anyhow, plan B was put into motion. Plan B in Australia, on a nice day of course, is going to the beach. Although sometimes I guess it ends up being plan A. So we packed up one of the lovely YWAM vans along with the Macgregor family and headed off to Henley beach. The cool thing about living along the coast in South Australia is the endless choices you have when it comes to beaches. We spent the day at Henley and came back to the base for a lovely BBQ. Graham and I are also no longer the newbies on base, Sandra, a mission builder from Switzerland arrived last friday. We spent the meal time getting to know everybody a little more and Graham and I are still learning more about people.
Sunday was an interesting day in itself. Nine of us from the base had the unique opportunity to volunteer with an organization called Red Frogs. Red Frogs is an organization that attends uni parties etc. and aims to be a positive example to young adults. We drove into Adelaide to a small university wear a fund raising event was taking place. Thus, Marksenfest began. It is exactly what it sounds like, a booze and schmooze fest. The gates opened at 10 am and tickets cost 50 dollars, after you were in you could drink as much as you want. Our responsibility was to hand out red frog gummies (which, because they are incredibly sweet, makes the beer taste awful apparently). We also made pancakes, handed out water, and distributed sun screen to those who were less than able to make logical and educated decisions at that point in time. The event had a live band, sumo suit wrestling, and a bouncy castle. I was actually quite amazed at how most people were able to hold their liquor in the bouncy castle. Our time at Marksenfest ended at 1:30 when our relief volunteers showed up, after that we headed to, you guessed it, the beach. This time we went to another beach called Brighton. We were all pretty tired and ended up taking a lovely afternoon nap on the beach instead of actually going in the water. That is how our weekend ended.
As far as work goes we have been continuing on with the painting in the guest house. The painting is tedious but will be well worth it when all is said and done. We hope to finish up the painting along with some minor renovations by the end of this week, in hopes that Paulette can start moving in next week.
The last week has not been a huge week spiritually for me other than one thing. We are up against some intense spiritual warfare and opposition here at the base. I will not get in to details but I can assure you that our fight is not against the flesh and blood of this world. I, as well as others I'm sure, would greatly appreciate your prayers for peace. We know that the Lord is our comfort and provides incredible peace but would still greatly appreciate you interceding on our behalf. Blessings to you all and let me know if there is anything that I can pray about for anything concerning you. Seek first His kingdom and everything you need will be added to it. Hugs from down under.
P.S. A huge thanks to all those who have supported me financially as well as prayerfully.
Sunday was an interesting day in itself. Nine of us from the base had the unique opportunity to volunteer with an organization called Red Frogs. Red Frogs is an organization that attends uni parties etc. and aims to be a positive example to young adults. We drove into Adelaide to a small university wear a fund raising event was taking place. Thus, Marksenfest began. It is exactly what it sounds like, a booze and schmooze fest. The gates opened at 10 am and tickets cost 50 dollars, after you were in you could drink as much as you want. Our responsibility was to hand out red frog gummies (which, because they are incredibly sweet, makes the beer taste awful apparently). We also made pancakes, handed out water, and distributed sun screen to those who were less than able to make logical and educated decisions at that point in time. The event had a live band, sumo suit wrestling, and a bouncy castle. I was actually quite amazed at how most people were able to hold their liquor in the bouncy castle. Our time at Marksenfest ended at 1:30 when our relief volunteers showed up, after that we headed to, you guessed it, the beach. This time we went to another beach called Brighton. We were all pretty tired and ended up taking a lovely afternoon nap on the beach instead of actually going in the water. That is how our weekend ended.
As far as work goes we have been continuing on with the painting in the guest house. The painting is tedious but will be well worth it when all is said and done. We hope to finish up the painting along with some minor renovations by the end of this week, in hopes that Paulette can start moving in next week.
The last week has not been a huge week spiritually for me other than one thing. We are up against some intense spiritual warfare and opposition here at the base. I will not get in to details but I can assure you that our fight is not against the flesh and blood of this world. I, as well as others I'm sure, would greatly appreciate your prayers for peace. We know that the Lord is our comfort and provides incredible peace but would still greatly appreciate you interceding on our behalf. Blessings to you all and let me know if there is anything that I can pray about for anything concerning you. Seek first His kingdom and everything you need will be added to it. Hugs from down under.
P.S. A huge thanks to all those who have supported me financially as well as prayerfully.
Oct 7, 2008
Work, SAYCO.... YWAM family bonding?
Well than, let's not even look at the last time I posted. I was going to post before last weekend but I guess that never happened. I've managed to keep busy in the last two weeks mostly with base work, but I do have a few other things to share.
Recently the work on base has consisted of lawn mowing (which never seems to end), weed whacking (ditto on that one), and a variety of other aesthetic upkeep tasks. Today was a base cleaning day, which basically translates into a day where everybody helps out with our jobs and we all work a shorter day so.... woohoo!!. Most of the base ended up working at the guest house today. Our guest house is actually split in two, so one half is specifically called the guest house and the other half is referred to as the Thompsons' house (the name of the family who lived there previously). The house is currently being completely remodeled and will be used by Paulette for a short while until her house is underway. Paulette will use it for her Rahab ministry office. Rahab is a ministry outreach that deals directly with women stuck in prostitution. Base leaders recently made a decision that if women needed a place to stay in between getting out of prostitution and finding another lifestyle the house could be used for that. It's exciting to see the physical renewal of buildings here on base. The location is extremely old but exceptionally beautiful, so the TLC is much needed but oh so worth it in the end.
This past weekend in SA (South Australia) was October long weekend. I reckon it's probably similar to our May long since we're in spring over here right now. Eleven of the bravest YWAM people, yes that includes Graham and myself, volunteered at SAYCO this past weekend. SAYCO stands for South Australia Youth Camp Out. A very fun event with lots of energetic teens, heaps of activities, and almost zero sleep. Our actual responsibility was to be chaplains if the kids wanted somebody to talk to or have someone pray for them, but we had the opportunity to do so much more than that. The event took place at Cornerstone College (highschool) in Mt. Barker, Adelaide. Don't think it's a Mt. either, it is slightly in the hills I suppose though. The event brought out about 300 or so youth, leaders, and others. The kids camped out in the footy field (australian rules football) while the volunteer staff as well as us 'chaplains' slept on the floor in a few of the classrooms. Our responsibilities were different all the time and we got to do some pretty fun, and tiring, stuff. We weren't on a strict schedule so it was a nice weekend. Again, exhausting nonetheless. The friday was spent setting things up for the rest of the weekend because campers only arrived saturday morning. Saturday is when all the action really started to take place. The schedule was pretty packed for the campers. They had a session just before lunch after they finished setting up and they had various events planned until 11:00. Maybe you don't care about absolutely everything but I'll tell you some things anyway. They had two sessions a day and had mini sessions with their small groups after most sessions. Afternoons were filled with xtreme games and carnival type things (bouncy castle etc.). After evening 'devos' with small groups we had something called night life. The kids had options of doing laser tag, dance partying, dart guns, chillin' out (board games, pool etc.), and the list goes on. We led a few of the afternoon carnivals, xgames, and night life activities.
It most definitely wouldn't have been a youth event without lack of sleep. Saturday night was a real short night but lot's of fun; maybe I should say long, depending how you look at it I suppose. We had responsibilities to do security shifts during the night on campus just to make sure everything was running ship shape. Graham, myself, Caitlin, and Laura took the drag shift, 3 am until 6 am. The two downfalls, besides of course being the drag shift, was that saturday night was daylight savings here and breakfast was served at 7 for us. This means that I was only asleep at about 12 and our clocks went forward, so what was supposedly 3 am still felt like 2 for my body. Security was easy and I drank heaps of coffee (yes, real brewed coffee). I just stayed up and took a shower before breakfast and finished sunday at about midnight, so Sunday was a really long day needless to say. Although Sunday afternoon we had really good sun and I definitely got some color. The crazy part was that saturday night was probably just as cold here as at home. Plus 1!! It was really funny to hear the Aussies go on about how they thought they would die. It was cold but not that bad. Probably one of the highlights of my weekend was the alter call at Sunday nights chapel. The speaker hadn't been challenging them a whole lot but I know that the Holy Spirit was speaking to some people that night. It was also just a general call to prayer and we were just open and available to the campers for whatever they needed. Graham had the opportunity to lead a camper to Christ!!! So freakin' awesome. I haven't talked to him much about the details but it was just really exciting to hear. I had the opportunity to talk with Jamie, a 16 yr. old guy I had connected with earlier this weekend, and pray for as well as with him. He was just talking about growing up in the church and becoming complacent, something that I could hugely identify with. He was a really awesome guy and I think he's coming to visit YWAM, along with a few other youth who would be able to do DTS next year. Isn't it cool how God opens up outreach opportunities into recruit opportunities sometimes?
I have been both incredibly tired and amazingly blessed in the past several days and I know that the Lord can do huge things through ordinary people. Blessings on you and I pray that you will experience the fullness of the glory of the Lord in your lives. God Bless and cheers.
Recently the work on base has consisted of lawn mowing (which never seems to end), weed whacking (ditto on that one), and a variety of other aesthetic upkeep tasks. Today was a base cleaning day, which basically translates into a day where everybody helps out with our jobs and we all work a shorter day so.... woohoo!!. Most of the base ended up working at the guest house today. Our guest house is actually split in two, so one half is specifically called the guest house and the other half is referred to as the Thompsons' house (the name of the family who lived there previously). The house is currently being completely remodeled and will be used by Paulette for a short while until her house is underway. Paulette will use it for her Rahab ministry office. Rahab is a ministry outreach that deals directly with women stuck in prostitution. Base leaders recently made a decision that if women needed a place to stay in between getting out of prostitution and finding another lifestyle the house could be used for that. It's exciting to see the physical renewal of buildings here on base. The location is extremely old but exceptionally beautiful, so the TLC is much needed but oh so worth it in the end.
This past weekend in SA (South Australia) was October long weekend. I reckon it's probably similar to our May long since we're in spring over here right now. Eleven of the bravest YWAM people, yes that includes Graham and myself, volunteered at SAYCO this past weekend. SAYCO stands for South Australia Youth Camp Out. A very fun event with lots of energetic teens, heaps of activities, and almost zero sleep. Our actual responsibility was to be chaplains if the kids wanted somebody to talk to or have someone pray for them, but we had the opportunity to do so much more than that. The event took place at Cornerstone College (highschool) in Mt. Barker, Adelaide. Don't think it's a Mt. either, it is slightly in the hills I suppose though. The event brought out about 300 or so youth, leaders, and others. The kids camped out in the footy field (australian rules football) while the volunteer staff as well as us 'chaplains' slept on the floor in a few of the classrooms. Our responsibilities were different all the time and we got to do some pretty fun, and tiring, stuff. We weren't on a strict schedule so it was a nice weekend. Again, exhausting nonetheless. The friday was spent setting things up for the rest of the weekend because campers only arrived saturday morning. Saturday is when all the action really started to take place. The schedule was pretty packed for the campers. They had a session just before lunch after they finished setting up and they had various events planned until 11:00. Maybe you don't care about absolutely everything but I'll tell you some things anyway. They had two sessions a day and had mini sessions with their small groups after most sessions. Afternoons were filled with xtreme games and carnival type things (bouncy castle etc.). After evening 'devos' with small groups we had something called night life. The kids had options of doing laser tag, dance partying, dart guns, chillin' out (board games, pool etc.), and the list goes on. We led a few of the afternoon carnivals, xgames, and night life activities.
It most definitely wouldn't have been a youth event without lack of sleep. Saturday night was a real short night but lot's of fun; maybe I should say long, depending how you look at it I suppose. We had responsibilities to do security shifts during the night on campus just to make sure everything was running ship shape. Graham, myself, Caitlin, and Laura took the drag shift, 3 am until 6 am. The two downfalls, besides of course being the drag shift, was that saturday night was daylight savings here and breakfast was served at 7 for us. This means that I was only asleep at about 12 and our clocks went forward, so what was supposedly 3 am still felt like 2 for my body. Security was easy and I drank heaps of coffee (yes, real brewed coffee). I just stayed up and took a shower before breakfast and finished sunday at about midnight, so Sunday was a really long day needless to say. Although Sunday afternoon we had really good sun and I definitely got some color. The crazy part was that saturday night was probably just as cold here as at home. Plus 1!! It was really funny to hear the Aussies go on about how they thought they would die. It was cold but not that bad. Probably one of the highlights of my weekend was the alter call at Sunday nights chapel. The speaker hadn't been challenging them a whole lot but I know that the Holy Spirit was speaking to some people that night. It was also just a general call to prayer and we were just open and available to the campers for whatever they needed. Graham had the opportunity to lead a camper to Christ!!! So freakin' awesome. I haven't talked to him much about the details but it was just really exciting to hear. I had the opportunity to talk with Jamie, a 16 yr. old guy I had connected with earlier this weekend, and pray for as well as with him. He was just talking about growing up in the church and becoming complacent, something that I could hugely identify with. He was a really awesome guy and I think he's coming to visit YWAM, along with a few other youth who would be able to do DTS next year. Isn't it cool how God opens up outreach opportunities into recruit opportunities sometimes?
I have been both incredibly tired and amazingly blessed in the past several days and I know that the Lord can do huge things through ordinary people. Blessings on you and I pray that you will experience the fullness of the glory of the Lord in your lives. God Bless and cheers.
Sep 24, 2008
Ocean, Church, and Demolition
Wow, it always seems like it's been so long in between every post. I suppose that means I'm keeping busy, that sounds better than lazy. This last weekend was heaps of fun (yes, the slang rubs off on you). On sunday morning Graham and I went to church, our first time worshiping in a church building since we've been in Australia. We went with Matt Newman, one of the guys who we've been working with quite a bit here at the base. The church is about a 40 minute drive south from the base and it's a community church. It was nice to be involved in a regular worship service again, although I've really enjoyed our times of worship on monday and thursday mornings. Right after the morning service we went to Matt's dads' house in the city and picked up four kayaks, his friend josie, and headed off toward a river. The plan was to kayak a ways up the river and eventually make it into the ocean and have a little bit of fun in the waves. We made a pit stop before we got to the ocean because it was a windy day and Josie decided to call it quits. We portaged Josie and Grahams' kayaks up the hill to the car park and Matt and I continued, let the fun begin. The waves on sunday afternoon were incredible. They were breaking super far out and even some of the smaller ones were breaking up to my head in the kayak. Needless to say I was tired at the end of the day. That was it for sunday.
Today, being wednesday, Graham and I started the dreadful, yet highly anticpated task, of demolishing the old shed. Alright, so we were only assigned to demolish part of the roof. This building was originally built in 1930 something and one of the only changes was that the tin had been redone once or twice. Oh, and the fact that a giant tree caved in half the roof sometime last year. Our assignment was to strip the tin off the remaining half and remove the rafters, in a safe and orderly manner. Ok, so I'm not sure they specified on the safe and orderly manner part. We managed to strip off most of the tin by noon and figured we'd just laze around until lunch at 12:30, but we decided to get back to work anyway; this is where the fun begins. We were supposed to keep the conventional rafters somewhat in tact so that the lumber could be used for something else. 80 year old conventional rafters aren't typically in great shape to begin with. Alright, I'll just cut to the chase. As we were strategically knocking out supports to slowly let down the rafters Graham managed to step on an old, and cracked, 2x10. This was nearly at the peak of the roof, so his feet were about 16 feet off of the ground when he was dangling there. But, fear not. Graham is a strong young man and managed to pull himself back up to safety. Nonetheless he had quite the scare and was most definitely trembling for a few minutes after the incident. Needless to say this was most definitely our highlight of the work day and the afternoon was not nearly as exciting. Any mothers who may be reading this, be glad you aren't our mothers. Keep fit and have fun, what more can I say?
Prayers and Blessings
Zac
Today, being wednesday, Graham and I started the dreadful, yet highly anticpated task, of demolishing the old shed. Alright, so we were only assigned to demolish part of the roof. This building was originally built in 1930 something and one of the only changes was that the tin had been redone once or twice. Oh, and the fact that a giant tree caved in half the roof sometime last year. Our assignment was to strip the tin off the remaining half and remove the rafters, in a safe and orderly manner. Ok, so I'm not sure they specified on the safe and orderly manner part. We managed to strip off most of the tin by noon and figured we'd just laze around until lunch at 12:30, but we decided to get back to work anyway; this is where the fun begins. We were supposed to keep the conventional rafters somewhat in tact so that the lumber could be used for something else. 80 year old conventional rafters aren't typically in great shape to begin with. Alright, I'll just cut to the chase. As we were strategically knocking out supports to slowly let down the rafters Graham managed to step on an old, and cracked, 2x10. This was nearly at the peak of the roof, so his feet were about 16 feet off of the ground when he was dangling there. But, fear not. Graham is a strong young man and managed to pull himself back up to safety. Nonetheless he had quite the scare and was most definitely trembling for a few minutes after the incident. Needless to say this was most definitely our highlight of the work day and the afternoon was not nearly as exciting. Any mothers who may be reading this, be glad you aren't our mothers. Keep fit and have fun, what more can I say?
Prayers and Blessings
Zac
Sep 17, 2008
Getting into the Swing of Things
It has once again been quite awhile since I've posted. I think sometimes after e-mailing people back and taking some time to relax I dread having to post. It's not that I don't want to keep people updated, it just seems like I have been doing a lot of the same things, although today's job was a little different than the usual.
Today, being wednesday, I had the lovely privilege of mowing some of the grass and doing some trimming. Mowing grass in the hills sucks, a lot. I'm not really sure how to describe, let's just say it wasn't the most enjoyable experience I've had here so far. To top it all off, when I was almost done one of the more steep embankments I hit a tiny little rock and it cracked a window on one of the YWAM vans, lucky for me people are fairly forgiving around here. We're almost done the last of the retaining wall with a large stone staircase and we're starting to rebuild an old shed. It seems that we won't run out of anything to do on the base in the three and a half months that we'll be here for.
For those more interested in something else besides work: Graham and I, along with three of the girls from the base, went down to Glenelg on saturday. Glenelg is one of the biggest beaches in South Australia. The drive was about 40 minutes, but it was worth it. The beach goes on for quite a way and the beautiful condos, restaurants, and cafes that run along the sand are a site to see as well. It was quite a windy day and still not too warm so we stayed out of the water, for now. When the warmer weather comes along in December we'll have the opportunity to go surfing, kayaking, and most likely cliff jumping. (Don't tell my mom, but South Australia has a high population of great whites in some areas). Anyway, as I was saying, lot's of amazing opportunities to take advantage of.
Well, seeing as I entitled this post 'getting into the swing of things' I should probably give you an idea of what the schedule is like here at the base. Most days we're up at around 7-7:30. We don't have an alarm clock, so it depends on whether or not the sun wakes us up. We usually start the day off with some PD's (personal devotions) and than header down for breakfast at 8 ish. Breakfast isn't prepared for us so it's usually cereal and toast or something creative like that. So far that's the only part of our schedule that's consistent. Mondays and Thursdays we have prayer and worship meetings and so we only start work after morning tea, which is usually about 11:30. Otherwise we start our work day at 9, with everybody meeting in the sunroom for duty dish out. Lunch is at 12:30 and we start work again at 1:30 ish. Most days we end up working until 5, I guess depending on which jobs we're doing and how urgent they are. Dinner (don't say supper or you'll confuse the crap out of them) is served at six. Graham and I usually end up taking a shower and than playing a few games of ping pong or respond to some of our fan mail. The evenings are something else over here... actually, they're quite boring sometimes. A lot of people end up shutting themselves into their rooms so that they don't feel like they're still at work, but Graham and I have slowly worked some of them out of that routine and convinced them to be social once again. So... if you're ever having a bad night and can't sleep at say, 3:30 in the morning, I'm sure one of us will be on the computer ready to have a nice little chat.
But alas, I must be off for now. It's been a hard days work and my body is telling me it's time to turn in. Again, I appreciate your prayers and encouragement. Keep encouraged in serving Him and I'd love to hear from all of you.
In the name of Christ,
Zachary
Today, being wednesday, I had the lovely privilege of mowing some of the grass and doing some trimming. Mowing grass in the hills sucks, a lot. I'm not really sure how to describe, let's just say it wasn't the most enjoyable experience I've had here so far. To top it all off, when I was almost done one of the more steep embankments I hit a tiny little rock and it cracked a window on one of the YWAM vans, lucky for me people are fairly forgiving around here. We're almost done the last of the retaining wall with a large stone staircase and we're starting to rebuild an old shed. It seems that we won't run out of anything to do on the base in the three and a half months that we'll be here for.
For those more interested in something else besides work: Graham and I, along with three of the girls from the base, went down to Glenelg on saturday. Glenelg is one of the biggest beaches in South Australia. The drive was about 40 minutes, but it was worth it. The beach goes on for quite a way and the beautiful condos, restaurants, and cafes that run along the sand are a site to see as well. It was quite a windy day and still not too warm so we stayed out of the water, for now. When the warmer weather comes along in December we'll have the opportunity to go surfing, kayaking, and most likely cliff jumping. (Don't tell my mom, but South Australia has a high population of great whites in some areas). Anyway, as I was saying, lot's of amazing opportunities to take advantage of.
Well, seeing as I entitled this post 'getting into the swing of things' I should probably give you an idea of what the schedule is like here at the base. Most days we're up at around 7-7:30. We don't have an alarm clock, so it depends on whether or not the sun wakes us up. We usually start the day off with some PD's (personal devotions) and than header down for breakfast at 8 ish. Breakfast isn't prepared for us so it's usually cereal and toast or something creative like that. So far that's the only part of our schedule that's consistent. Mondays and Thursdays we have prayer and worship meetings and so we only start work after morning tea, which is usually about 11:30. Otherwise we start our work day at 9, with everybody meeting in the sunroom for duty dish out. Lunch is at 12:30 and we start work again at 1:30 ish. Most days we end up working until 5, I guess depending on which jobs we're doing and how urgent they are. Dinner (don't say supper or you'll confuse the crap out of them) is served at six. Graham and I usually end up taking a shower and than playing a few games of ping pong or respond to some of our fan mail. The evenings are something else over here... actually, they're quite boring sometimes. A lot of people end up shutting themselves into their rooms so that they don't feel like they're still at work, but Graham and I have slowly worked some of them out of that routine and convinced them to be social once again. So... if you're ever having a bad night and can't sleep at say, 3:30 in the morning, I'm sure one of us will be on the computer ready to have a nice little chat.
But alas, I must be off for now. It's been a hard days work and my body is telling me it's time to turn in. Again, I appreciate your prayers and encouragement. Keep encouraged in serving Him and I'd love to hear from all of you.
In the name of Christ,
Zachary
Sep 12, 2008
New Experiences
Wow, so it's been quite awhile again since I last posted on this blog dealio. Let's see here, that would mean I'm keeping fairly busy. This last week was filled with new experiences, some of which I'll try to share and maybe even re-live for you. So one of the first ones, and probably not a big deal for most of you, was the fact that I had the privelage of driving a right hand drive car. The thing that you have to understand is I was experiencing many new things at the same time. We were hauling backfill for the retaining wall and Matt, whose truck we were using, was in class. Long story short, I drove standard (not new), right hand drive (new), while backing up a trailer (new), beside a steep embankment (not entirely new). That would be only the beginning of new experiences. One that isn't new to Graham and I, but something I thought I'd share anyway, was eating a cricket. Michael, one of our friends on base here, paid us 35 bucks for the two of us to eat a cricket. Being desperate for cash and both having eaten grasshoppers before we did it no problem. The other new experience came this evening during our weekly time of outreach which is done every Friday night. I guess it's not entirely new, but it was my first time going back into the city of Adelaide since we were picked up from the airport a week ago. The city is absolutely beautiful in the evening when all the lights illuminate gorgeous fountains and prestine chapels. Adelaide is a very artistic city and it shows in the design of buildings and the way people present themselves.
I suppose this post officially marks the end of our first week of work here at the YWAM Adelaide base. As we head into the coming weeks we would most definitely appreciate your prayers in the area of not only physical, but spiritual strength. Some days it's hard to stay motivated when you know you aren't getting earthly rewards, but the Lord has promised us so much more than anything we can ever imagine. Let us know how we can pray for you and we will most definitely keep you in mind. God bless all of you; give him free reign over every part of your life and he will blow your mind. Blessings.
I suppose this post officially marks the end of our first week of work here at the YWAM Adelaide base. As we head into the coming weeks we would most definitely appreciate your prayers in the area of not only physical, but spiritual strength. Some days it's hard to stay motivated when you know you aren't getting earthly rewards, but the Lord has promised us so much more than anything we can ever imagine. Let us know how we can pray for you and we will most definitely keep you in mind. God bless all of you; give him free reign over every part of your life and he will blow your mind. Blessings.
Sep 9, 2008
The work begins
My last post was from Sunday sometime. In the off chance that the days are confusing any of you I'm referring to the days as we experience them over here, the time change being fourteen and a half hours; so we're a day ahead. Monday was our first day of work and needless to say we were both quite excited to get started. After sitting on different airplanes for twenty three hours and lounging in different airports for several days we were more than ready to start working. We don't have an alarm in our room because our adapter can't run anything that requires more than 120v, which includes our alarm clock. Luckily for us we have been waking up with the sun at about 6:45, it rises earlier but doesn't make it over the hill until than.
As we learned monday morning, every monday and thursday we meet at 8:30 to find out which cleaning duties have been designated our way. As expected, they gave the new guys bathroom duty. Lucky for us we've both experienced camp cleaning and this really wasn't a stretch. After cleaning duties are done we meet for a time of worship and prayer with all the staff. A lot of our time was spent asking ourselves where has God called us into ministry and more specifically, why presently at YWAM? It was a good time for me to think about my various involvements at home, not only 'where is God calling me?' but to what extent. After worship and prayer we had morning tea, yes, morning tea at about 11:30; than we started work. Our first job designation was to help two other guys here at the base build a large sandstone retaining wall. The base is a nice place but most definitely needs some TLC in places, so this is a good start. Tuesday was followed by more of the same thing but without the meeting and cleaning in the morning. If I could take one thing from home at this point it would have to be a tractor. Manual labor is alright, but moving several tons of soil for backfill with a small trailer and a few minuscule shovels seems a little ludicrous to me.
It is now tuesday evening and in accordance to the previous nights we've spent here in Adelaide, I'm quite tired. Our first two days of work have been quite productive and I'm eagerly looking forward to the other jobs they'll have us do. They just found out today that I'm capable of cooking, so we'll see how far that makes it. As for now I would appreciate your prayers for both health and energy. Graham and I both left the country with colds and the time change has not been a help; it would seem that we are getting better though. Feel free to give us an email or leave a comment if you have any prayer requests of your own. We, as well as others here, are more than willing to remember you in our prayers. God bless all of you in whatever it is He has planned for you. Thanks so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. Heaps of love.
As we learned monday morning, every monday and thursday we meet at 8:30 to find out which cleaning duties have been designated our way. As expected, they gave the new guys bathroom duty. Lucky for us we've both experienced camp cleaning and this really wasn't a stretch. After cleaning duties are done we meet for a time of worship and prayer with all the staff. A lot of our time was spent asking ourselves where has God called us into ministry and more specifically, why presently at YWAM? It was a good time for me to think about my various involvements at home, not only 'where is God calling me?' but to what extent. After worship and prayer we had morning tea, yes, morning tea at about 11:30; than we started work. Our first job designation was to help two other guys here at the base build a large sandstone retaining wall. The base is a nice place but most definitely needs some TLC in places, so this is a good start. Tuesday was followed by more of the same thing but without the meeting and cleaning in the morning. If I could take one thing from home at this point it would have to be a tractor. Manual labor is alright, but moving several tons of soil for backfill with a small trailer and a few minuscule shovels seems a little ludicrous to me.
It is now tuesday evening and in accordance to the previous nights we've spent here in Adelaide, I'm quite tired. Our first two days of work have been quite productive and I'm eagerly looking forward to the other jobs they'll have us do. They just found out today that I'm capable of cooking, so we'll see how far that makes it. As for now I would appreciate your prayers for both health and energy. Graham and I both left the country with colds and the time change has not been a help; it would seem that we are getting better though. Feel free to give us an email or leave a comment if you have any prayer requests of your own. We, as well as others here, are more than willing to remember you in our prayers. God bless all of you in whatever it is He has planned for you. Thanks so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. Heaps of love.
Sep 7, 2008
Moving In
Here I am, in Adelaide Australia. Graham and I left on Sep. 3rd and arrived here on the 5th, so apparently Thursday just flew right on by without us knowing. It was Friday just before lunch when our plane landed and we cleared Australian customs without any major problems. The actual act of moving into our dorm style room didn't take too long and we spent more time getting to know the base and taking in the scenery.
The base here in Adelaide is located about ten minutes into 'the hills' from the edge of the city. The beach is actually through the city and a little further away than we anticipated, but it's still the end of winter here and beach season doesn't begin until October. Australian winters are another peculiar thing because today was probably the coldest day we had at 12 degrees or so with rain all day. Around Christmas time it gets up to 40 degrees and really dry, so we'll see how Christmas without any snow goes. The scenery is beautiful as we expected and there are some very large trees and some good sized cliffs. Looking out of our dorm room from the balcony you can see a vineyard next door, huge trees with cockatoos in them (which are very loud by the way), and large rolling hills with narrow roads winding through them. Nearby is a national park which we will check out sometime in the next little while if we don't see any kangaroos or koalas near the base. Another thing we're planning on checking out are the waterfalls; within a half hour hike are three different water falls. I'm not sure how big they are but they sound beautiful. I'm attempting to paint a picture of how things look because our computers are incredibly slow and it doesn't look like we'll be uploading any pictures to facebook anytime soon. Sorry.
As to our positions here as missions builders the work has not yet begun. We start tomorrow (monday) and are more than likely going to be doing some outdoor maintenance and upkeep of the property. The building is quite old and needs some attention. The driveway is also a force to be reckoned with but Australia doesn't have tractors 'o' plenty like manitoba, so we'll see if we decide to tackle that project while we're here. We may also be involved in kitchen duties as well, they found out that I cook and so I may not have a choice. During the weekend we're required to cook for ourselves and so that has been nice because I haven't had the opportunity to cook much since spring. You'll notice I haven't talked about people much, the weekends are fairly dead and we've only met a few people so far. The ones that we've had the pleasure of meeting have all been really nice and we look forward to meeting the rest come monday morning.
That's about everything I can think of for now, feel free to ask comments, leave questions; however that goes. You know what I mean. G'day for now.
The base here in Adelaide is located about ten minutes into 'the hills' from the edge of the city. The beach is actually through the city and a little further away than we anticipated, but it's still the end of winter here and beach season doesn't begin until October. Australian winters are another peculiar thing because today was probably the coldest day we had at 12 degrees or so with rain all day. Around Christmas time it gets up to 40 degrees and really dry, so we'll see how Christmas without any snow goes. The scenery is beautiful as we expected and there are some very large trees and some good sized cliffs. Looking out of our dorm room from the balcony you can see a vineyard next door, huge trees with cockatoos in them (which are very loud by the way), and large rolling hills with narrow roads winding through them. Nearby is a national park which we will check out sometime in the next little while if we don't see any kangaroos or koalas near the base. Another thing we're planning on checking out are the waterfalls; within a half hour hike are three different water falls. I'm not sure how big they are but they sound beautiful. I'm attempting to paint a picture of how things look because our computers are incredibly slow and it doesn't look like we'll be uploading any pictures to facebook anytime soon. Sorry.
As to our positions here as missions builders the work has not yet begun. We start tomorrow (monday) and are more than likely going to be doing some outdoor maintenance and upkeep of the property. The building is quite old and needs some attention. The driveway is also a force to be reckoned with but Australia doesn't have tractors 'o' plenty like manitoba, so we'll see if we decide to tackle that project while we're here. We may also be involved in kitchen duties as well, they found out that I cook and so I may not have a choice. During the weekend we're required to cook for ourselves and so that has been nice because I haven't had the opportunity to cook much since spring. You'll notice I haven't talked about people much, the weekends are fairly dead and we've only met a few people so far. The ones that we've had the pleasure of meeting have all been really nice and we look forward to meeting the rest come monday morning.
That's about everything I can think of for now, feel free to ask comments, leave questions; however that goes. You know what I mean. G'day for now.
Sep 3, 2008
So, here I am at home, a day before I leave to Australia. I should probably be packing right now, but how much could one actually need to pack for six months? So I'm a bit of a blogging umm.... how do you say it? Beginner? Yeah, we'll go with that. I'm pretty excited about going to Australia but I'm feeling pretty sick right now, so If you happen to think of me while I'm traveling your prayers would be much appreciated. Also, thanks to all the people who have already been supporting me both prayerfully and financially; it's encouraging to know that people are praying for you. I'll be back before you know it, until than.. Cheers.
To God be the Glory
To God be the Glory
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